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Ekaint
Ekaint, officially the Republic of Ekaint, is a sovereign state. It is located in the Bay of Biscay, near the infamous Basque Country of Spain. Ekaint has an area of population of just over 7,000 sq. km., it is largely populated with 980,000 citizens residing on the island. The Republic of Ekaint is the first nation to recognise Basque as its official language, despite the fact that over 150,000 citizens speak Spanish as their first language. It is by far the largest island in the Bay of Biscay, followed by the considerably smaller French island of Oléron. Due to its location, Ekaint has been a colony of several empires and nations in the past. These include Nazi Germany, and the Crown of Castile. Despite this, Ekaint has stayed with its basque culture for many years, and has kept Basque as its language throughout colonization. Ekaint is also a very economically advanced nation, despite not being a member of the European Union, or the United Nations. It is the final nation to use the Peseta, which it carried on using after Spain and Andorra started to use the Euro in 2002. It is one of the few nations in Europe, and the world, to not be heavily caught by the recession. Etymology Ekaint comes from the Basque word, Ekain, meaning June. This was the month of the discovery of Ekaint, therefore receiving its name. However it is not official, many believe that Ekain was also the first name of the explorer that discovered the island. This, however, has not been confirmed. History Ekaint was discovered in June 1340 by a Basque-speaking explorer from the Crown of Castile, who did not report back to his homeland and instead stayed on the newly discovered island. He named the island Ekaint, after the month he discovered it. There is however no trace of the explorer's name in public, as records have kept it private. Many rich Basque-speaking citizens from the Crown of Castile heard about the new island, and inhabited the island. After many peaceful years without much knowledge of the island, the Crown of Castile easily invaded the island in 1516, four years after the Annexation of Navarre. The invasion took approximately ten days to complete, with approximately 6,000 citizens killed. When Enlightenment in Spain arrived, Ekaint became one again independent, with many more Basque speakers arriving on the island. The population quickly grew, and many Spanish speakers also moved to the island. It stayed independent ever since, growing to be a well-governed nation, with the majority of citizens speaking Basque. In 1942, the island of Ekaint was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany, and was used as a military base, in case Allied troops attempted to invade France from the Bay of Biscay. This never occured, as France was instead invaded by the Invasion of Normandy. In 1944, Ekaint was freed from German rule, and instead became an independent republic again. Culture Cuisine Ekaintian cuisine is based heavily on the cuisine of the Basque Country, due to the fact that Ekaint's first settlers came from that region. However, the country's cuisine is also influenced to an extent by the cuisines of France and Spain. One of the most renowned typical dishes of Ekaint is erregosia, a popular stew consisting of rice, meat such as rabbit or chicken, beans, tomato and paprika. Another typical food of Ekaint is seafood, with fish and shellfish being very popular in the country's cuisine. Sport While varieties of football had been played in Ekaint many years ago, sport in Ekaint has been dominated by the English style association football since the early 20th century. The two most successful football clubs in Ekaint are Athletic Recis, and the slightly smaller Real Recis. The country's national team, the Ekaint national football team, have been successful despite the country's small size. Several other sports are popular throughout the nation, and cycling also has a large presence. Cycling races often see Ekaintian citizens lining the roads wearing blue, because many of the largest cycling teams in Ekaint wear blue. Several Ekaintians teams annually compete in the Tour de France, one of the largest and most popular cycling races in the world. In the north of Ekaint, rugby league is surprisingly a popular sport. Near the beginning of the 20th century, an influx of citizens in Yorkshire and Lancashire moved to the Northern areas of Ekaint, and introduced the sport of rugby league to Ekaintians. Since then, Rugby league has become the second most popular sport to citizens residing in the Northern areas of Ekaint. Category:Country Category:Ekaint